Forgotten, But Not Lost
by Agent Ohio
Summary: Serveral generations after the time of Firestar, an orphan wakes up with the body of a cat. After ThunderClan takes her in, she begins to unravel the mystery behind her late mother's past. Rated T for possible blood and violence.
1. Chapter 1

My first Warriors fanfic! Hope you enjoy, though I'm not entirely sure if my writing is any good. This isn't very long I guess, and it may be a bit confusing, but I hope to explain quite a bit in the next chapter so bear with me.

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><p>"Mom!"<p>

Claire felt tears streaming down her face as she held her motionless mother. Lightning illuminated the room periodically, allowing her to see her mom's face. The woman's eyes were closed, as if sleeping peacefully. Her beautiful face was nearly a mirror image of Claire's own, only older. And her black hair was a slightly lighter shade. The girl's heart felt like it was being crushed under the merciless depths of the sea.

"Mother please wake up, you're all I've got!" she sobbed, clinging to the woman's cooling body. Once more the lightning lit up the dark living room, and her mother's eyes opened. "Mom?" They were bright yellow, with feline slits for pupils.

A cool breeze tickled Claire's face, waking her. But her anatomy had radically changed since the night before when she had fallen asleep.

"What's going on?" she mumbled sleepily, though it came out as a meow, somehow she understood it's meaning. Then she noticed the set of teeth closed around the scruff of her neck.

"Let me go!" she screamed, wriggling helplessly in an attempt to get away from her kidnapper. But as she did a sharp pain went through her body. She let out a weak yowl of pain.

Claire held still, though there was still a dull pain in her legs dragged against the forest floor. "Where am I?" she asked, "Who are you?" But she got nothing in reply, possibly because the stranger had their mouth full at the moment.

This did nothing to comfort Claire, but she couldn't struggle without causing herself more discomfort. She looked down at her aching legs, only to see the snowy white limbs of a cat with charcoal stripes. And behind that she could just make out the pale silver front paws of the animal carrying her.

Though Claire couldn't see them, the only thing that stayed the same about her body was the color of her jade eyes. Then she saw where she was being taken. Her captor took her though a thorn barrier and into a stone hollow. Claire looked back and forth, seeing several cats who stopped to stare at the two newcomers.

The green-eyed hostage gave a whimper of fear and confusion, but said nothing as they entered what looked like a den that was drenched with the scent of herbs. She was gently set down on the ground, which caused another weak sound of pain escape her mouth. Then she shifted her head to look at whoever had dragged her there.

It was a she, her newfound feline instinct told her from the scent. Her slender form was coated with light silver fur, but her amber eyes were fixed on something behind Claire.

"Mistfeather!" her firm voice called, sitting down beside Claire.

Then she heard a soft meow from further in the den, "One moment."

After a few seconds a she-cat with a similar build padded over to them, though her fur was even paler than the other cat's, and with white splotches here and there.

"Who is this?" the cat apparently called Mistfeather inquired, examining Claire curiously.

The other she-cat shrugged, "I found her by the WindClan border, but she seems really hurt. I couldn't just leave her there."

Mistfeather gave her a curious look, then gave Claire a sniff, "I don't see any wounds on her. The damage must be on the inside." then she looked up, "Do you know what happened?"

But the cat that had carried her shook her head, then turned her head to Claire and spoke to her for the first time, "Do you remember what happened?"

However, Claire didn't remember anything. She probably knew less than they did. "No." she mewed.

"Move her to one of these nests." Mistfeather ordered. At that, Claire was moved over to a bed of leaves and moss. Which was more comfortable than the stone floor, she admitted.

The splotchy she-cat spent a few moments looking Claire over, then she looked up at the other cat, who was about to leave.

"What were you doing near the WindClan border by yourself, Moonclaw?"

This made the silver cat hesitate, but she exited the den without a word.

Sighing, Mistfeather returned her attention to her patient. "Are you feeling any pain?" she asked. Claire nodded faintly, "Whenever I move."

"I'll get you some poppy seeds." The pale cat meowed, "They should help with that." Then she padded away to fetch Claire's treatment. Man, what was going on? Her mind reeled with questions as Mistfeather returned with the small black seeds wrapped in a leaf.

"These will also make you drowsy, but sleep won't hurt." Mistfeather explained, "I think you may have some broken bones. Whatever happened to you must've been pretty bad." watching with concern as Claire licked up the poppy seeds. When they were all gone Claire looked up, "Thank you." she said weakly.

Mistfeather gave a small nod, "Simply doing my job. Now I don't think the bones are broken too badly, so they should heal fine on their own. I have to go see the leader now, but I'll be back to check on you soon."

Claire watched her step out of the den and allowed her eyes to shut. But almost as soon as they did she heard a squeaky voice from the den entrance.

"Look Nightkit!"

"Who's that?"

She groaned and turned her head to see two kittens, staring at her with wide eyes from the edge of the den.

"What are you doing here?" one of the kits demanded, his fluffy black chest puffed out in an attempt to look intimidating.

The smaller kitten, whom Claire guessed was his sister, was black with large white spots. "Blackkit, if Moonclaw brought her here then she isn't an intruder." she mewed.

The bigger of the two bounded over to Claire's nest and sniffed her. "Ew! You smell like twolegs!" he hissed, wrinkling his nose and taking several steps back.

Twoleg? What? "You mean humans?" Claire asked. But Blackkit just gave her a confused look, "What's a human?"

But Claire just sighed, too tired to answer. Then she heard Mistfeather's voice. "I told you kits to stay away from my den unless you're hurt!"

"Sorry Mistfeather!" She heard Nightkit squeak.

Then the two kits raced out of the den, leaving Mistfeather and Claire alone. "I apologize about that. Those two need to be made apprentices soon so they can have mentors to keep them busy."

"Uh… What?"

The she-cat shook her head, "I forgot, you don't know our ways. It can wait until after you get some rest though. My leader, Darkstar, says you can stay until you've recovered." then she gave her a thoughtful look, "You may even end up joining the clan, if that is your wish. But like I said, that must wait for another time. Just get some rest for now."

Claire closed her eyes and allowed the poppy seeds in her system to help her drift into a peaceful sleep.

Meanwhile, the ranks of StarClan were at unease.

A white she-cat with steel gray stripes felt a growl beginning in the back of her throat, arching her back as she glared accusingly at two other cats, "What have you done? You know I didn't want her here!"

One of them, a light brown tom, stared back at her with moons of sadness in his pale jade eyes, but said nothing. Instead, a pastel gray she-cat spoke.

"Whispertail, she deserves to be with her own kind. And even more so deserves to know who she really is." she meowed casually, despite the waves of rage emanating from the striped warrior.

The brown tom spoke up now, "Stormflower is right. She will make a great warrior." he meowed, "I'm sure she will make us proud."

Whispertail looked back at him, "What does the great Riddlestar of WindClan care about a mere ThunderClan kit?" she hissed, venom dripping with every word, "This is none of your concern. You proved where your allegiances lie." The former WindClan leader winced at this, but he remained silent.

Waving her tail for silence, Stormflower brought their attention back to the matter at hand, "The moment you left your clan, you lost your voice in any clan affairs, Whispertail. And ThunderClan's new guest now falls into that category."

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><p>So obviously reviews would be nice. (Even ones pointing out what I did wrong, it'll help me in the long run.) I don't really know how long this will be. I have a few things planned out for the story, but really I'm just winging it. Anyways… with or without reviews the next chapter should be coming within a few days.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Okay so here's the next chapter.

Mossshine, your kitty, Snowpaw will be making an appearance, I hope you like the way I write her.

Veni0Vedi0Vici, thanks for the reveiw! I forgot that white and black tabbys were non-existant Dx but from here on Claire will be a gray and white tabby.

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><p>When Claire awoke, she was still a cat. Sighing, she decided it really wasn't a dream then. So far though, it was better than her life had been leading up to this strange… transformation. Living in a run-down orphanage wasn't how she wanted to spend her childhood. The nightmare she had right before she woke up was a bit disturbing, however. Ever since her mother had died a few months before, she had been having nightmares like that. But the weird eye thing was new.<p>

The young cat lifted her head a bit, looking around for Mistfeather, as she had a lot of questions. Obviously she was some sort of healer. Though Claire could not see her, she recognized the she-cat's scent. Her newly required instincts told her it was faint, but fresh. Meaning she was somewhere nearby.

She didn't feel like calling out for her if she didn't really need her, after all she was a guest and Mistfeather might be busy doing… whatever it is cats do. So she sighed and thought about what the pale healer had said before she went to sleep. Something about joining their clan. Of course, she would have to learn a bit about this place before she got too involved with them. It could be, like, a feline cult or something.

Mistfeather's den was drenched with the scent of herbs, or maybe the scent seemed so strong because Claire was not used to having such a heightened sense of smell. All in all, she was taking this weirdness fairly well. Just to make things perfectly clear, her life before sucked. At least as a cat she now had a bit more freedom. No one could tell her what to do now.

"You okay?"

Any thoughts that were going through her mind were interrupted by the silver and white she-cat she had been looking for earlier. "Yes ma'am I'm okay." she replied politely.

Although the foreign word earned her a strange look from Mistfeather, the pale cat said nothing. Which Claire saw as an opportunity to start asking questions.

"What is this place?"

It was silent for a moment, as Mistfeather searched for a good way to explain. Then she spoke. "This is ThunderClan's camp. More specifically, ThunderClan's medicine den." she meowed, "I am the medicine cat. My duties include healing the sick and injured, and interpreting signs for StarClan."

Claire tilted her head, "Err… StarClan?"

The medicine cat sighed, she had forgotten those outside the clan didn't know about their ancestors. "StarClan consists of our warrior ancestors. They guide and watch over us." So StarClan is where dead kitties go. There had been times when Claire would wonder about the afterlife for animals…

This brought up another question. Though she doubted Mistfeather could answer it. Where would Claire go if she died? She had the body of a cat, but the soul of a human. It was hard to say… But this was assuming there was a StarClan, or whatever. Never mind. That was too deep a subject for Claire to dwell on.

"Mistfeather?"

Both Claire and the medicine cat turned their heads to look at the newcomer. She was pure white with pale gray paws and ear tips. Mistfeather seemed to recognize her though, "Ah, Snowpaw. Do you need something?"

The white cat nodded, "Owlwing needs some juniper berries."

"Just one moment."

Mistfeather padded over to the herb store to fetch the herbs. Then Snowpaw's gaze wandered to Claire, "Are you okay?" she asked with concern.

Claire nodded, sighing, "Mistfeather says I'll be fine soon enough." but she was ready to be up and about. Sitting still was never her something she was good at. The white she-cat sat down next to Claire's nest. "Well you don't smell like a clan cat. You smell kind of like a kittypet or something." she observed.

Kittypet. That wasn't a word she was familiar with. Though it sounded like their word for a non-feral cat. "That's not necessarily..." then she trailed off as they both watched Mistfeather wrap a few juniper berries in a leaf and set it down in front of Snowpaw. "Owlwing should be having her kits any day now." she commented.

Snowpaw nodded excitedly. "I bet they'll be really cute!"

"Well these should help with her upset stomach, and you can come visit our guest some other time." Mistfeather meowed, dismissing the younger she-cat.

"Oh. See ya- wait." Snowpaw stopped, "I didn't catch your name."

"Claire. Nice to meet you."

With this the white cat gave her the feline equivalent of a smile, "Okay bye!" and she padded out of the medicine den with the berries.

"She seems pleasant." Claire remarked, no one had ever taken so much interest in her. It was kind of nice.

Mistfeather nodded, "She's probably the one easiest of all the apprentices to get along with." Apprentices. With humans, this word wasn't used much anymore. But it meant a young person who learned the trade of their mentor. It must be similar with cats.

"So, how are you feeling?"

The question caught her off guard. She had never really been too badly injured before, so it was a bit strange. "Well, I haven't tried to move yet and…" Claire's answer was interrupted by the grumbling of her stomach. She hadn't eaten since noon the day before, but with all the excitement she must have forgotten about eating at all.

Whiskers twitching with amusement, Mistfeather stood up, "I'm getting a bit hungry too, I'll get us both something to eat." she meowed, making her way out of the den. A minute or so later she returned, with two small mice dangling from her jaw by their tails. That was dinner? Claire had to eat raw mice? Ew.

Despite how strange her meal was, a somewhat intoxicating smell was emanating from it. On normal circumstances, Claire wouldn't think of trying it. Raw meat wasn't good for humans, after all. But she was an animal now, so it must be okay, and there didn't seem to be a Subway nearby, so she did the logical thing.

Tenderly, she bit into the mouse's soft flesh with her sharp teeth. As she chewed, she decided it wasn't half bad. It was actually pretty good. Not as good as a snickers bar, there was nothing to compare to something like that, but still really good.

She found herself eating like there was no tomorrow. Mostly due to the fact that she was really, really hungry. Although Mistfeather could be heard chuckling a bit in the background, Claire paid it no mind. Soon enough, the mouse was nothing but bones and scraps of fur. She looked over to see Mistfeather's progress, which was much slower. Her mouse was only half finished.

Although she wasn't completely full, Claire was satisfied for the moment. She lifted her paw. Nothing. She stood up. Now the pain sliced back through her body, forcing her back down.

"Don't worry. I wasn't thinking it would heal so soon anyway." Mistfeather mewed, "Then again it may not even be broken bones, it's hard to say when I can't see them, and we don't even really know what happened to you." Although Claire was starting to have theories of her own. A transformation like this was probably hard on the body, stretching or shrinking and changing the entire structure of itself. Obviously there could be some undesirable side effects afterward. The thing was, this subject wasn't exactly her forte, so there was no telling how long it would take to recover.

For the rest of the day, Mistfeather kept Claire company. Sometimes she would go off to check on the elders and the queens, (whom Claire had learned were the expecting she-cats or she-cats with young kits) but it never took her long to return. Snowpaw came in again to visit that evening just as the sun was setting.

"Hey Claire!" she meowed, seeing the striped cat was right where Snowpaw had left her that afternoon, "How are you? Are you having fun here?"

Blinking, Claire wondered how fun it could possibly be with her movement so restrained, but she didn't say it aloud, lest she hurt the apprentice's feelings. "I'm fine. Is that a rabbit?" Claire asked, seeing the rodent at Snowpaw's feet. It was a big one to be sure, and Claire couldn't help but selfishly hope that she could have a bite or two of it.

"Yup! I brought it for you and Mistfeather to eat." She picked it up and brought it over to Claire, "Where is Mistfeather anyway?"

"Oh. She said she went to see Flamestep, he has ticks really bad apparently." Claire told her. Snowpaw nodded with understanding as Claire dug into the meal she had been brought. Then the white apprentice sat down, "Save some for when she comes back then!" she meowed with a mock sternness, seeing Claire's brisk eating pace.

It was quiet for a few moments, then Snowpaw spoke up again, "So what happened to you?" she asked.

Claire looked up at her, licking her lips. Could she tell her what really happened? Nah, she'd just think she was crazy. So she told her half of the truth, "I don't remember. I went to sleep last night, and when I woke up in the morning, one of your clanmates was carrying me here.

"Well everyone in the clan knows you're here now. Word spreads pretty quickly around here ya know." Snowpaw said, then turned around to see Mistfeather walking through the entrance of the den. "Snowpaw, you're back." the medicine cat meowed, "Thanks for bringing the rabbit, I forgot to get some fresh-kill on the way back from the elder's den."

This made Claire look down at her rabbit. She had eaten a little over half, but there was enough for Mistfeather to have a decent meal too. "Here." she meowed, nudging the rabbit away to show that she was finished. The pale medicine cat took the fresh-kill and began finishing it off as the younger cats continued their conversation.

"Icepaw was saying that he saw you when he went to Mistfeather for the thorn in his pad." Snowpaw meowed.

"He must have come in while I was asleep, because I don't remember a tom coming in here. So what do you clan cats do all day?" Claire asked, changing the subject.

"Oh well we hunt and patrol mostly. When we're not doing that we're usually in camp. Why? Are you thinking about joining us?" her eyes wide with excitement.

What other choice did she have? If she was a cat now, she could go anywhere she wanted, but she didn't know how to hunt for herself. Or fight, if it came down to it. Snowpaw and Mistfeather were the closest things to friends she had right now, so the logical choice would be to stay.

"Well, Mistfeather said your leader might allow me too stay." Claire meowed. Then Snowpaw bounce of delight, "That's great! Now me and Icepaw won't be the only ones!"

So there were only two apprentices? Mistfeather had been saying that those kits that had been in there would be apprentices soon as well. But first Claire would have to recover. Then the medicine cat lifted her head, having finished her dinner. As if she had read her patient's mind, she meowed "Claire won't be having her ceremony until she is well enough to start her apprentice duties, and that is if she even wants to join us."

But Claire had made up her mind. This could be her home now. These cats could the family she had always longed for.

The next morning, the tabby awoke before Mistfeather. She tentatively lifted her body with her legs, the soreness remained, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as it had the day before. Her stocky limbs were wobbly as she made first step in her new body. Taking special care not to forget the legs in the back, as she had spent most of her life with only two.

Deciding to take a look at the rest of the camp, she slowly padded over to the medicine den's entrance. The stone hollow was pretty big, with many of the cats just waking up and starting the daily routine. She spotted Snowpaw and another white cat of the same age wrestling several yards away. As much as Claire wanted to join them, she was too embarrassed by her wobbly gait to try approaching them.

"I didn't except you to be up and about so soon."

Turning around, she saw Mistfeather standing behind her with a somewhat surprised look on her face. "Normally I would ask how you're feeling, but I guess you must be getting better." she meowed. Claire nodded, "Definitely better than yesterday."

"Good. So I suppose I should report this to Darkstar."

"Tell him I would like to stay, if it's not too much trouble."

Mistfeather made her way out of the den to speak to the leader, leaving Claire alone. She decided to practice walking while she waited for the healer to return. Several minutes she paced to medicine den, partly for practice and partly due to anxiety. Then she caught Mistfeather's scent a few moments before the cat herself returned to the den.

"Darkstar says you will be trained as a warrior if it is your wish."

Yes! For the first time in a long while, Claire felt excitement flow like adrenaline through her body. Then she heard a voice echo off the stone walls of the hollow, making she and Mistfeather both prick their ears to listen.

"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highledge!"

The medicine cat flicked her tail, signaling for Claire to follow. The two she-cats padded out of the medicine den to see every cat in the camp making their way to sit near a ledge. The large, muscular cat seated on the top of High Ledge must have been Darkstar. His gray pelt was nearly black in color, which was obviously where he had gotten his name.

Was this meeting about her? Claire suddenly felt extremely nervous. Shivering with apprehension, she followed Mistfeather to sit near the back of the crowd. Seeing that everyone was there, Darkstar started the meeting.

"As I'm sure you all know, we have a guest here in ThunderClan." Darkstar's voice was deep, but not as intimidating as one would think by looking at him.

At this, several cats glanced her way, following their leader's gaze.

"I have decided to let her join us as an apprentice."

Many of the cats began to murmur among themselves. Whether the murmurs were disapproving or excited, Claire couldn't exactly tell, but apparently no one disagreed enough with their leader to argue against him.

Darkstar beckoned Claire toward the front of the clan. Mistfeather nudged her forward encouragingly, "Don't be scared." she whispered. Claire stepped forward, fur prickling as all eyes turned on her. The dark leader gave her a thoughtful look for a moment, before continuing.

"Until she earns her warrior name, this cat will be known as Lightpaw."

"Lightpaw." she murmured it quietly, trying it out. It was a pretty good name, she guessed. Then she looked back up at Darkstar, not realizing that the slight murmurs that persisted died as soon as the name was spoken.

The leader noticed, but went on anyway, "Moonclaw." Darkstar meowed, turning his attention to another cat.

She recognized that as the name of the cat that had brought her to ThunderClan the morning before. The silvery she-cat stiffened, meeting her leader's gaze.

"You have mentored many apprentices over the moons, and they have all have become fine warriors. I hope that you would pass on your strength and wisdom to Lightpaw, as her mentor."

Moonclaw inclined her head, "It would be an honor." she meowed.

The she-cat reached her muzzle down and touched her nose to Lightpaw's. At first she was confused, but realized it must have been part of the ceremony.

"Lightpaw! Lightpaw! Lightpaw!"

The clan cheered her name with excitement. Lightpaw turned and caught sight of Snowpaw and the other apprentice, who she guessed must have been Icepaw. When the cheers died and the clan began to recede back into small, murmuring groups Moonclaw looked down at her new apprentice.

"Darkstar is not without a sense of humor." The silver warrior sighed.

Lightpaw frowned, did he make a joke out of her? "Why do you say that?"

"You bear a striking resemblance to a ThunderClan queen that went missing moons ago." Moonclaw muttered, "She was mine and Mistfeather's littermate."

Lightpaw blinked, not sure what to make of the new information. Sure, it was strange that she looked like their missing littermate, but there were dozens of cats out there. Of course there would be cats out there that look similar. She decided to leave it for the time being. "So anyway, when do we start training?"

"Right now if you're ready."

"Really?" Lightpaw blinked. Was she ready? Her bones were still sore, but she was determined to prove herself. Besides, she had spent a whole day lying around doing nothing, some exercise would be nice. "Then let's go!" she turned and began to walk towards the thorn barrier.

Her mentor soon caught up with her and they walked side by side into the forest. Moonclaw stopped her once they were far enough away from camp. "What do you smell?" she asked. Lightpaw raised her head and sniffed the air. "Open your mouth a bit. It helps." Moonclaw suggested. It sounded a bit strange, but Lightpaw took her advice.

As much as it didn't make sense to her, Moonclaw's advice seemed to help. Although many of the scents were foreign to her, she recognized the scents of mouse and the stale scent of a dog. "I smell a mouse. There's some dog scent too, but it smells old."

Nodding with approval, Moonclaw went on, "The trick with hunting mice is to keep your pawsteps light." she meowed, "Like this." the silver warrior demonstrated for Lightpaw how to stalk. "Now you try."

The tabby crouched down and tried to mimic her mentor's graceful movements, but ended up looking a bit clumsy. Her balance was a bit off, and she made more noise than she wanted to.

"It could use some work, but experience is the best teacher. Go ahead and try to catch that mouse." Moonclaw said, nodding towards the sound of rustling leaves.

Lightpaw blinked. She couldn't possibly attempt to catch something with such a klutzy stalk! But Moonclaw was right, maybe trying the real thing would help her. Her heightened sense of hearing and smell allowed her to pinpoint the mouse's location in the undergrowth. Lightpaw dropped into a hunter's crouch and stalked forward. One carefully placed pawstep at a time. Heart pounding against her chest, she got closer and closer to the small brown furred rodent. Maybe she could catch it. It hadn't noticed her presence yet and-

Snap!

"Crap!" she hissed as the mouse skittered away, squeaking with terror.

Moonclaw padded over and stood beside her, "It's okay. Not many succeed on their first try."

She already knew this, but letting her prey get away was still frustrating. Then Moonclaw's whiskers twitched with amusement, "Let's go find another one."

They hunted until noon. By this time they had both caught a considerable amount of fresh-kill. Lightpaw had long since forgotten about her first few screw ups as she proudly walked into camp with her catch. As they set their prey down in the fresh-kill pile, Moonclaw told her to get something to eat, after choosing a sparrow for herself.

The apprentice picked a thrush up in her jaws and scanned the hollow for Snowpaw. Snowpaw was gone, probably on a patrol, but she spotted another cat her age munching on a shrew with the same white pelt, just lacking the gray paws and ear tips. He must be the other apprentice.

"Hey you're Icepaw, right?" Lightpaw meowed, sitting across from him.

Icepaw looked up from his meal, "Yep. You must be Lightpaw then."

Lightpaw nodded, taking a bite out of her thrush. "So are you and Snowpaw siblings?"

The white tom nodded, "We're littermates."

"So where is she? I haven't seen here since Moonclaw and I got back." Lightpaw took another glace around the camp, but still she couldn't find her.

"She's on the sunhigh patrol."

"Oh." Lightpaw had been looking forward to telling her about the hunt, but she supposed it would have to wait. Then a ginger tom walked up to them, "Why don't you two take some fresh-kill to the nursery when you're done?" he meowed.

Icepaw inclined his head, "Yes Redfoot."

As the warrior walked away Icepaw turned his head to Lightpaw, "That was Redfoot, the deputy. He's second-in-command. That means when Darkstar dies, Redfoot will be leader."

Lightpaw nodded, "So how many queens are there?"

"There's Owlwing, Flowertail, and Flowertail's two kits." Icepaw meowed.

When they had finished eating they picked up two mice and a vole for the nursery's residents. Lightpaw followed Icepaw towards the milk-scented den. There was a dark brown she-cat, who looked like she was about to pop at any moment, and a calico she-cat with her two kits. Lightpaw recognized the kits as Nightkit and Blackkit from the day before when they had visited her in the medicine den.

Icepaw set down the mouse he was carrying in front of Owlwing, "We brought some fresh-kill for you guys!" he meowed.

Owlwing gave him a look of gratitude and tucked in. Then Lightpaw gave the vole to the kits and the mouse to the other queen. "Thanks." the calico meowed, then glancing over at her kits, "Now don't fight! There's enough for both of you!"

Then Blackkit looked up, "Mama I want my own!" he demanded. Then Flowertail rolled her eyes, "You can't eat a whole vole by yourself."

"Whole vole! That rhymes!" Nightkit mewed, giggling.

Her brother looked irritated at his request being denied, but shared the vole with her anyway. Lightpaw and Icepaw were about to leave when a wail of pain sounded behind them. They looked back to see Owlwing was going into labor. Lightpaw blinked, "W-what do we do?" she squeaked, looking to Icepaw.

"Go get Mistfeather!"

Lightpaw ran to Mistfeather's den. Once she was inside she looked around frantically, "Mistfeather!" she called, "Owlwing's about to have her kits!"

Mistfeather appeared in an instant, gathering herbs. "Hold on I'll be there in a second."

Once the medicine cat was done getting the herbs she would need, Lightpaw followed her back to the nursery. Icepaw was still there, trying to calm the queen down. Nightkit and Blackkit were hiding behind their mother, peeking their heads over her flank from time to time. Mistfeather sat next to Owlwing, keeping her composure with little effort. Lightpaw guessed this was due to having delivered kits several times before.

It wasn't long before three new kits came into the world. The golden tabby she-kit was named Sunkit, one of the toms was a small version of his mother, and was named Thornkit, and the last one was a tan colored tom who was named Swiftkit.

The two apprentices watched in awe, neither having seen a birth before. They watched the kits suckle as if there was nothing else in the world besides that life-sustaining milk. Mistfeather sighed, then gave Lightpaw a slightly nostalgic look.

"Is something wrong?"

Mistfeather shook her head, "Now you two need to get out and give Owlwing some air."

Lightpaw and Icepaw walked out of the nursery just as the sun was beginning to set. They spotted Snowpaw eating a mouse near the apprentice's den and raced to meet her.

"Snowpaw guess what happened!"

"Owlwing had her kits just now! They were so tiny and adorable!"

Blinking, Snowpaw listened to their story in silence. When they were finished she giggled, "I'll gave to go see them later then. Lionclaw will be upset that he missed it."

"Lionclaw? Is he the father?" Lightpaw asked.

Icepaw nodded, "It's ironic. For the past few days he's been trying to stay in the camp so he wouldn't miss it, but Redfoot put him on the one patrol that would be out of camp while the kits were being born."

Then Snowpaw jumped, "Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you guys, Foxleg was talking about the Gathering! It's supposed to be in a few days!" she meowed, her eyes wide.

"Gathering?"

Quickly, her friends explained that a Gathering took place every full moon. Every clan would travel to the island in the middle of the lake. (via a fallen tree that allowed them to cross over the water) It was supposed to be a peaceful assembly of the clans so they could share any news like new warriors, deaths, births, etc. Every cat wanted to attend the Gathering, but usually several cats had to stay behind to guard the camp and the cats who were not able to come.

"We've never been to one, since we were made apprentices just after the last Gathering," Snowpaw explained, "but I really hope we get to go this time!"

Icepaw nodded with agreement, "It sounds really exciting!"

Lightpaw shrugged, meeting the other clans would be cool, but the biggest reason she would want to go is to be with her friends. She imagined it must be a bit boring to be stuck at camp while the rest of the clan was gone.

Then they heard pawsteps approaching. The apprentices turn around as a black tom padded towards them. The tom's green gaze fell on Icepaw, "We're leaving with the next hunting patrol, Icepaw." he meowed. The apprentice nodded, "Okay." Then he looked at the other two apprentices, "And you two are going on the dawn patrol in the morning."

When the tom was out of earshot, Icepaw looked back at them, "That was Shadowfur, my mentor."

Snowpaw nodded, "He's really grumpy, so you might want to be careful around him." she warned Lightpaw.

"Well I guess I should go. See ya guys!" Icepaw trotted over to the group of cats that were gathering for the patrol. Snowpaw yawned, "Well I'm gonna turn in early if we're going with the dawn patrol."

"Ugh will we have to get up early?" Lightpaw groaned, "I'm not a morning per- I mean cat."

Her friend chuckled, "You'll get used to it." Then she went into the apprentice's den to sleep. Lightpaw decided to follow her, seeing as there wasn't anything else to do.

"This nest and the one next to it are mine and Icepaw's. You can sleep in any of the others." Snowpaw told her, lying down in her nest to sleep. Lightpaw chose the one on the other side of Snowpaw's and curled up in her new bed. It kind of made her miss sleeping on a mattress, but she would get used to it. Just like she would get used to getting up early…

But soon the grumpy thoughts faded as she drifted into sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

This update took a bit longer than I planned XD but between getting Halo 3: ODST, (Which is really good by the way) and school starting, I haven't had as much time. This is much shorter than the last chapter, but it's much more interesting I'm sure.

* * *

><p>"Hey Lightpaw!"<p>

Lightpaw looked over at Snowpaw, who was running towards her.

"What?"

They were both on a hunting patrol about a week after Lightpaw became an apprentice. Darkstar had allowed Icepaw and Snowpaw to attend the Gathering, but they had left the other apprentices behind. Lightpaw had felt a bit disappointed that her friends were going without her, but it didn't last long. Snowpaw had assured her that she would get to go next time.

But the white she-cat looked strangely worried now. "I found a fresh rouge scent nearby, I think there may be an intruder." she whispered.

"Are you sure?" Lightpaw's eyes widened.

Snowpaw nodded, "We should find-"

"Wait a second!"

"What?"

The tabby smiled mischievously, "What if we chased the rouge away? Then maybe they'll make us warriors!"

"Lightpaw I don't think that's a good idea." Snowpaw squeaked, "He might be big and tough…"

"Come on! If he's too scary we can just run away! We're both pretty fast runners." Lightpaw pleaded.

"Umm…" Snowpaw thought for a minute, "I-I guess we can…"

Grinning, Lightpaw led the way. She found the scent trail that Snowpaw had discovered and they followed it as stealthily through the undergrowth as they could.

It was several minutes before Snowpaw whimpered, "Maybe we should turn back. This scent is getting hard to follow, he must had done something to cover it up…"

Then they heard a twig crack behind them.

Slowly, the apprentices turned around, and the rouge's scent was stronger than ever before. He must be close. They carefully crept towards a holly bush and peeked through the branches at the intruder.

He was a large dark tabby, sniffing around suspiciously. He was covered in scars from nose to tail tip, the biggest one being a set of claw marks going down his face.

"Let's go back Lightpaw!" Snowpaw hissed.

As much as Lightpaw had wanted to impress the clan, she had to admit the two of them couldn't take him with their little battle training. "Okay. Just be quiet-"

They froze as the tom turned his head to look directly at them. A sneer crept over his face, "What do we have here?"

"Run!" Snowpaw hissed frantically, and they both shot into the woods. Lightpaw's heart was pumping fast, blood roaring in her ears. They could _not _let him catch them! If that happened… there was no telling. Death or worse. Lightpaw looked back to see if he was still chasing them, and before she knew it, she had face-planted into the dirt.

She tried to get up, but she felt teeth around her hind leg, dragging her back a bit and then pinning her down with a huge paw. "I'm sorry I have to do this, kitty."

Wriggling to get away, she didn't answer. Then he cuffed her hard against the side of the head, "Don't struggle!" he hissed, "I'll kill you quickly, and then find your little friend."

_No!_

Lightpaw yowled with pain as he bit into her neck, but the pressure on her back was gone for a brief second. She rolled onto her back and clawed at his belly with her hind legs. The tom jumped with surprise, but that quickly turned to anger as his unsheathed claws came at her face. Lightpaw jumped to the side, but lost her footing and fell on the ground again. He was standing over her again now, looking furious. Now she had made him angry. Fear kept her from moving. All she could do was stare, frozen, at the murderous rouge.

The last thing she saw was his claws glinting in the sunlight, and then feeling the pain of having her stomach ripped open. After that, everything went fuzzy and dark, and the forest faded into a black spiral.

"Mistfeather!"

Turning around, Mistfeather watched as Snowpaw hurried into the medicine den.

"What's wrong?" Mistfeather meowed.

"It's L-Lightpaw!" she panted, "She's… just come on!"

After gathering some cobwebs and marigold, Mistfeather raced after Snowpaw through the forest. Then they stopped, coming to a heap of bloody fur. Lionclaw and Foxleg were licking her wounds. Mistfeather stared wide-eyed at her, unable to move. It was so much like…

She was no longer in the forest, but on the island where Gatherings were held. Before her two she-cats were fighting.

One was a vicious dark brown she-cat, and the other was a white and gray tabby.

"Whispertail!" Mistfeather called, but neither of the she-cats paid attention to her. Then she remembered it was only a vision. One that she had seen before.

But this time was different. The terrified squeak of a kit came from the trees on the other side of the clearing. Now Whispertail turned her head for a fraction of a second, but it was just long enough.

The dark she-cat slashed Whispertail's throat and pushed her to the ground, and then shredded her belly with dangerously sharp claws. The striped warrior lay in a bloody heap as her attacker sauntered away. Mistfeather stepped up to it carefully as the heap grew smaller and slightly darker in color.

_Lightpaw_

Mistfeather snapped back, shaking the thought from her head. She had to treat these wounds or Lightpaw might die.

She walked over and looked her over for a moment. "She seems to be breathing, but its very faint." Then she began chewing the marigold into a poultice to apply to the wounds. Snowpaw sat by her, looking more worried than Mistfeather had ever seen her.

"Can I help somehow?" she asked, staring at the body that looked morbidly like a carcass.

The medicine cat thought for a moment, "You can start putting cobwebs on some of these wounds." she meowed, gesturing towards the pile beside her. After a minute or so, all the wounds had been treated.

"_Carefully _carry her back to camp, please." Mistfeather said politely to the two warriors.

"Lightpaw!"

Lightpaw opened her eyes. She was in a beautiful forest, even prettier than ThunderClan territory. But if she wasn't in ThunderClan… where was she? She sat up and looked around, a light brown tom was sitting next to her, regarding her with a mixture of fondness and heartache.

"Who are you?" she asked, noticing he didn't smell at all like ThunderClan.

"I am Riddlestar, one of WindClan's former leaders." he said bowing his head in greeting.

Former leader? Then the pieces came together.

"Am I dead?" Lightpaw's eyes widened with panic. "I can't be dead! Send me back please! I can't leave-"

"Hush, child. You aren't joining us permanently." Riddlestar assured her, "You'll wake up safe and sound back in ThunderClan soon, but first I must show you something."

She was prepared to follow him to another part of the forest, but instead her view of StarClan's forest was replaced by a clearing filled with cats. There was a tree in the middle, with four cats sitting in branches, looking down on the rest. Was this what a Gathering looked like?

Then she noticed Riddlestar among the cats sitting in the tree, and Darkstar was sitting near the trunk of the tree below a white tom. It must have been a memory from some point in the past. Many of the cats looked tense as one of the leaders, a dark brown she-cat, spoke.

"Riddlestar, if you aren't with me, you're against me." she meowed smoothly, though her tone didn't take the edge off her threat.

The brown tom sighed, "There have always been four clans, Tigerstar tried to do this, too a long time ago. It didn't work for him, either. Why do you think you can do something that a cat as powerful as him couldn't?"

"Because I'm not as arrogant as he was. He thought he was untouchable, so he let his guard down. That was his downfall." the she-cat explained, "But like him, I will unite the clans peacefully or by force."

"This is a load of fox dung!" the white tom growled, "ThunderClan will not have anything to do with this either!"

"Then you are a fool, Whitestar."

The ThunderClan leader bared his teeth, but said nothing else. The ShadowClan leader was an elderly looking tom, who shook his head disapprovingly, "I agree with Whitestar and Riddlestar, the clans have never come together as one, and I don't think they ever will."

Then the scene changed. Now there was a she-cat that looked almost just like Lightpaw, standing before all of StarClan. Standing in front of them was a gray she-cat, who was the first to speak.

"Whispertail, the deed we tasked you with was no small matter. Any cat would be frightened, but the prophecy said that you would defeat the darkness that threatened our home." The she-cat shook her head with disappointment, "I was hoping my own daughter would try to regain her honor."

Whispertail took a step back, "Stormclaw I-"

"There is no excuse!"

"Disgrace!"

"Furystar is dead isn't she? I didn't have to do it!" Whispertail growled, "The clans are safe now, no thanks to me. I was nothing special!"

Stormclaw sighed, "Not everything is as it appears, but we are here today to sentence you."

"She's a traitor and a coward!"

"She abandoned the clans to die!"

"Send her to the Dark Forest!"

The gray she-cat gestured for silence, "I believe that what she did means she should not be here in StarClan, but perhaps she should not be sent to the Dark Forest either. Whispertail is many things-" Stormclaw gave her a meaningful glance, "But she is not evil."

Now Riddlestar stepped forward, "There is a third option."

"Riddlestar!" Whispertail hissed, but the former WindClan cat silenced her.

"There is an afterlife for non clan cats. Obviously kittypets and loners do not go to StarClan, but the good ones have to go SOMEWHERE." He meowed.

Stormclaw nodded, "The In-between. Perhaps that would be an appropriate arrangement."

Then the StarClan cats disappeared one by one, Riddlestar being the last, and Whispertail was left alone. Then the scene faded.

When Lightpaw's eyes fluttered open, she was in the medicine den. Snowpaw, who was lying down beside her, jumped up, "She's awake Mistfeather! She's awake!"

Mistfeather walked over to Lightpaw and gave her a sniff, "It seems you can't keep yourself out of this place for too long." she meowed, "How are you feeling?"

"I-I…" Lightpaw didn't know what to say. How close had she come to dying? It had been a nightmare. And then there was all those things Riddlestar showed her. Had she been dreaming? It all seemed so vivid, but it was hard to say. Only medicine cats and leaders got signs from StarClan, but she had been IN StarClan temporarily according to Riddlestar.

"Thyme. For the shock." Mistfeather set a few leaves down in front of her. StarClan knew Lightpaw needed it.

Lightpaw shivered as she chewed the leaves, remembering the cat who had almost killed her.

"What happened to the rouge?" she asked shakily.

"They chased him away from the lake, hopefully he won't return to any other clan's territory." Mistfeather mumbled.

Snowpaw shifted her paws restlessly, "So are ya hungry? Do you need anything?"

Then Lightpaw's stomach grumbled. Snowpaw's whiskers twitched with amusement, "I'll take that as a yes, then." and she ran off to get some fresh-kill.

Once Snowpaw was out of earshot, Mistfeather gave Lightpaw a serious look.

"What did you see?"

The apprentice blinked, "What do you mean?"

"I heard you mumble while you were unconscious. About StarClan, and many cats that have been dead for moons now." Mistfeather meowed, "You would have been very young while they were alive."

Lightpaw narrowed her eyes, "Who was I talking about?"

"Riddlestar, Stormclaw, Whispertail…" Mistfeather trailed off, then shook her head, "A lot of cats you shouldn't know about. What happened?"

"It's complicated…"

Snowpaw returned just in time to give Lightpaw a reason not to finish, "I got us something to eat!" she meowed through closed teeth, so she wouldn't drop the mice she was carrying by the tail.

They both dug in happily. Lightpaw glanced at Mistfeather, who gave her a look that said, "Don't think this is over, missy."

Of course, the message was clear. But Lightpaw was still glad she didn't have to talk about it yet. She didn't want Mistfeather to think she was insane, or worse, have to be involved with some weird and possibly dangerous prophecy.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been several weeks since Lightpaw had the tar beaten out of her by the rouge. It seemed sort of like a nightmare, like it may not have even happened. She might have believed that was true if it weren't for the faint remains of the wounds he had left her. Mistfeather hadn't interrogated her about her encounter with StarClan… yet. But sometimes the slender medicine cat would give her a thoughtful look. Eventually, Lightpaw knew she should probably talk about it, but it could wait just a little bit longer.

"Lightpaw, take something to Mistfeather. She's been busy lately, you know." Moonclaw meowed as Lightpaw was going through the fresh-kill pile for her breakfast. Busy? It wasn't quite winter er, leaf-bare quite yet and not that many cats had much need of her recently.

But Lightpaw didn't argue. "Yes, Moonclaw." The apprentice mumbled, picking out a robin for the medicine cat. She padded slowly to the medicine den with the robin and the finch she had chosen for herself, thinking of what she was going to say.

The scent of herbs hit the roof of her mouth as she walked into Mistfeather's den. The she-cat was sorting through her herbs, as she usually was when there wasn't anything else pressing to do. In Lightpaw's opinion, Mistfeather might be a bit OCD. So it was true, this wasn't just about a food delivery.

Lightpaw walked over to the older she-cat and set the fresh-kill down. "Moonclaw sent me to bring you some food." she meowed.

Mistfeather looked up from her herbs for a moment, then moved one last leaf and turned to her visitor. "I want to talk to you." she said, ignoring the robin Lightpaw had brought for her.

Sighing, Lightpaw took a bite out of her finch, "Okay, okay." she mumbled. "What's your first question?"

"What did StarClan tell you?" she asked. Her eyes were penetrating, as if searching for any hint that Lightpaw was withholding information or straying from the truth.

"They didn't tell me squat! I don't even get why they felt it was so important to talk to me!" Lightpaw grumbled, "I'm just an apprentice, I'm not that important." then she took another bite of her meal.

Eyes softening, the medicine cat shook her head gently, "No Lightpaw, you are very important. You and the other young cats carry the future of this clan. Darkstar was an apprentice once. So were Redfoot and I."

Of course it was true what she said, but it was hard to imagine the leader, medicine cat, and deputy wrestling in front of the apprentices den. "Anyways, I saw a Gathering and there was some cat named Furystar and they were talking about the clans and all that."

"Furystar?"

The apprentice nodded. "Why would a queen name her kit Fury?" she asked, shuddering. Who would want their kit to have the name of a savage killer? She stared at her half-eaten finch as she wondered what could have been going through that crazy she-cat's mind.

"She was not given that name at birth. She changed her name when she became leader, because Sweetstar obviously wouldn't fit her very well." Mistfeather meowed, narrowing her eyes at the memory of that vicious she-cat. "She was merciless in battle, and had killed many cats in her time. In fact, StarClan didn't accept her as leader, so she didn't have nine lives like the others did."

There had been something unnerving about Furystar when Lightpaw had seen her. Like an aura of defiance and ruthlessness. "I also saw a cat named Whispertail, StarClan didn't know what to do with her so they sent her to a place that wasn't StarClan or the Dark Forest. A bunch of 'em said she was a traitor because she abandoned them." Lightpaw went on, trying as best she could to remember the important details as she continued to munch on the dwindling meat of her finch.

For a moment it seemed like Mistfeather released a sigh of relief, "So she wasn't punished?"

Lightpaw thought for a moment, "I guess she wasn't, really. Not that I'm an expert on the afterlife. Why does it matter?"

"She was mine and Moonclaw's sister. There was a battle with Furystar, she had managed to annex ShadowClan after their leader died, so WindClan had to team up with us to defeat her. Whispertail must had run away during the battle…" Hurt spread across Mistfeather's face as she spoke, obviously she felt a bit betrayed by her sister. "I was wondering if she had died in the battle, but we never found her body, and I never saw her among StarClan's ranks."

"I'm sorry." Lightpaw meowed, looking down at her paws, "Maybe you can see her now? She's in the afterlife somewhere."

Mistfeather shook her head, "I don't think I can, but obviously she doesn't want to see me if she would run off without a word like that." she said, her voice almost turning into a growl.

Blinking, Lightpaw took a slight step back. She had never seen Mistfeather get even close to upset. She seemed so laid back all the time, it was one of the qualities that Lightpaw liked about her. But it was over in a moment, and Mistfeather returned to her usual tranquil self. "Was there anything else, Lightpaw? Why did Whispertail run away?"

"I-I can't remember." Lightpaw mumbled, looking away from Mistfeather again. If StarClan was trying to tell the clan something, they should have told Mistfeather. Lightpaw had nothing to do with this crap. "If I remember something or by some chance hear something else from these retarded dead cats I'll tell you."

The medicine cat narrowed her eyes, "You should only speak of StarClan in the highest regard." she cautioned, "But you may go now. I know the situation that day had been somewhat traumatic."

Lightpaw nodded and stood up, then she heard Mistfeather's voice again.

"And take these bones with you! I like my den clean!"

It comforted Lightpaw a bit to her Mistfeather say something normal to her for the first time in a long while.

"Watch me Lightpaw!"

Nightpaw and Blackpaw were practicing their fighting moves just outside of camp, Blackpaw was stronger than his sister, but she was avoiding most of his attacks pretty well. Lightpaw wondered about the TV shows she used to watch when her mom was still alive. And also her favorite Youtube series. With all of her heart she wanted to watch Red vs. Blue one more time. Maybe if she stole a twoleg's smart phone or snuck inside a house during the night…

"You're not paying attention!" she heard Blackpaw whine.

The black tom snorted with impatience and pawed at the ground like a bull. He seemed to always want to show the older apprentices everything he learned, even though Lightpaw and the others had already seen and mastered those moves. Nightpaw didn't seem to care much. She was much more withdrawn than her brother and didn't say much to the other apprentices. Although she seemed to enjoy sparring with Blackpaw.

"I'm sorry Blackpaw, I'm just bored." Lightpaw grumbled.

Blackpaw shot her a wounded look, but said nothing. The older apprentice felt a bit guilty about hurting his feelings, but she got up and strolled back into camp anyway. She wondered about what to do when there was a flash of white and a furry projectile crashed into her flank, barreling her over and onto the ground.

"Hi Lightpaw!"

Lightpaw groaned, "Get off Snowpaw, you scared the crud out of me!"

Her friend giggled and let her sit up. Lightpaw gave Snowpaw an evil eye, but couldn't really stay mad at her.

"So did you know that Redfoot is retiring?" Snowpaw whispered excitedly.

"Um, how is that a good thing? We need warriors, Snowpaw."

"But you don't understand!" Snowpaw meowed, "Who's going to take his place? Word around the camp is that Moonclaw is a likely candidate!"

Moonclaw? What if her mentor was deputy? It might be kind of cool. "Well that's kind of interesting." Lightpaw said monotonously, her eyes wandering to something in the background somewhere behind Snowpaw.

"Oh Lightpaw, you don't realize how cool it would be to have a deputy as a mentor!" Snowpaw meowed.

Then a similar white cat appeared next to them, "Moonclaw already doesn't have enough time to do any one-on-one training with her, if any more duties fall on that poor she-cat Lightpaw won't ever get trained."

Snowpaw hung her head, "I suppose you're right." after a few seconds her head sprang back up, "Icepaw you ruin everything!"

Icepaw shrugged, "I'm a realist."

"You are a bit boring, Icepaw." Lightpaw teased, "You should act like a kid once in a while!"

Her friends blinked in unison, "Kid?"

"Uh, it's-it's a word my family used to describe young cats." Lightpaw said quickly, "I forgot you guys don't use it."

"Oh." Snowpaw nodded with understanding, then she tilted her head, "You know, you haven't told us much about your family. What happened to them?"

Lightpaw paused. Snowpaw had caught her off guard. What was there to say?

"Well when I say family, I just mean my mother." Lightpaw explained, "She's… she's dead though."

Icepaw was silent, as he always was when he was either bored or extremely interested in something. Lightpaw guessed it was the latter.

"I don't really even know how she died. Nobody could figure out what it was." Lightpaw meowed, looking away. It wasn't hard to talk about it, but she didn't like to be reminded.

Her vision felt blurry, but she went on. "After that I lived in an orphanage," at this point she didn't care that Icepaw and Snowpaw didn't know twoleg words, she just needed to let it out, "I had never felt so alone. My mom was the only thing I had, and she was taken from me."

Snowpaw looked like her best friend had just died, "Lightpaw that's terrible! I shouldn't have asked I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine. Sometimes it's better to talk about those things."

Icepaw said nothing, he was looking at something else.

The other apprentices turned to see Moonclaw approaching them. The pale she-cat padded over and stopped in front of them.

"The Gathering is tonight. Darkstar is allowing the three of you to come." The silvery she-cat said, "And I'm sure you know about Redfoot's retirement by now, this will be his last Gathering as deputy."

Lightpaw and Snowpaw traded grins, forgetting about the tender moment that had taken place almost seconds ago. Icepaw was excited too, but he tried not to show it. Moonclaw gave them a feline smile and walked back towards a group of warriors on the other side of camp.

A Gathering! The first one Lightpaw would attend… in person anyways. It reminded her of the vision Riddlestar had given her during her near death experience. She suppressed the thought and followed her two friends over to the fresh-kill pile to grab a meal before nightfall.

The heavy scent of cats hung in the air as the ThunderClan party approached the tree bridge.

"Eww it smells to fishy! That must be RiverClan." Blackpaw growled, "Our rivals! We should attack while they don't expect it!"

Snowpaw rolled her eyes, "That wouldn't be very nice, Blackpaw! And they don't smell too bad…"

The black tom snorted, "You are such a sissy! Warriors have to be tough, like me!" he puffed out her chest and strutted like a pompous peacock. Lightpaw couldn't help but laugh out loud. Blackpaw turned and glared at her, but a flash of embarrassment crossed his face for a glimmer of a moment.

"Well let's get across this bridge, shall we?" Icepaw suggested as the last warrior jumped onto the log.

Lightpaw saw a slight shiver running down her back as she hopped up onto the tree and carefully made her way across. Then one by one, the apprentices crossed the tree bridge until it was Lightpaw's turn.

The bridge was cold, wet, and slippery. Three things she had no love for. But she eased her way across, one tentatively placed pawstep at a time. A few times she was afraid she'd lose her balance and fall into the murky depths of the lake, but she kept herself steady and somehow made it across.

Snowpaw, Icepaw, Nightpaw, and Blackpaw were waiting for her on the other side. Everyone else had joined the other clans in the main clearing.

"Ready?" Snowpaw mewed, shivering from the excitement and the cool breeze that rolled passed them.

Lightpaw nodded, then the apprentices walked through the trees. Blackpaw was racing ahead of them, "Woohoo!" He cheered, "Isn't this cool, Nightpaw?"

His sister nodded timidly, walking between Lightpaw and Snowpaw. The trees thinned out to reveal a huge throng of cats. It was a rainbow of different pelt colors, shapes, sizes, and scents. Lightpaw wasn't sure if her nose could take it. Blackpaw bounced with childish delight and raced right into the crowd. Nightpaw's eyes widened, and she pressed closer to Snowpaw for comfort.

"It's ok. Nobody here will bite ya!" Snowpaw promised, whiskers twitching with amusement.

"Much." Icepaw added mischievously.

This earned a warning glare from Snowpaw, but the four cats walked to the edge of the crowd and sat down.

"So where are the leaders?" Lightpaw asked, looking up at the empty tree.

Icepaw scanned the clearing, "I don't see them, but eventually they'll sit up in that tree to address the clans."

"Yup." Agreed Snowpaw.

Blackpaw was still nowhere to be found, but they didn't really feel like searching for him. So they waited silently for the Gathering to start.

First Lightpaw recognized Darkstar as he jumped up onto a limb on the tree. Redfoot was sitting below him, and it wasn't until then that Lightpaw noticed that his ribs were starting to become more noticeable then they would be on a younger cat's body. The silvery moonlight emphasized his graying pelt, and the outline of his once strong muscles. It was like looking at another cat altogether.

Then two more cats joined Darkstar in the tree, a slender reddish she-cat with a white tail tip and paws, and a small golden colored tom.

"The she-cat is Foxstar, leader of RiverClan, and the tom is Goldenstar, the WindClan leader." Snowpaw told Lightpaw and Nightpaw. "I don't see the ShadowClan leader yet, though."

A few seconds later, the last of the four leaders leaped to his place in the tree. He was a lean, black and white tom. Darkstar sent him what could have been a resentful look, but it was hard to tell from such a distance.

"And that's Swiftstar, he's a bit…" Snowpaw hesitated, searching for the right word.

"A bit of a jerk?" Icepaw suggested.

Snowpaw rolled her eyes, "I was looking for a more sophisticated way to put it."

Her brother smirked, "You mean you were looking for a nicer way to say it. It's not like he can hear you."

Lightpaw focused her attention on the leaders again. Darkstar was the first to speak, she lost interest as he began some boring introduction, and then he turned to Foxstar.

"Would you like to start first?"

The she-cat nodded, her fluffy tail swishing back and forth for a few moments, before resting over her paws.

"RiverClan has been well, Clovertail had her litter just a few days ago." Foxstar meowed, though her tail and ears twitched as if something about it was bothering her. Lightpaw wondered for a moment if something was wrong, but the thought faded as she listened to the rest of RiverClan's news. After that was Goldenstar's turn.

The small tom's gaze flicked over the clearing for a moment, and then he began. "WindClan has two new apprentices, Frostpaw and Hazelpaw!"

Everyone in the clearing cheered their names, as ThunderClan had done for Lightpaw when she became an apprentice. Why would the other clans care? Now they had two more cats to fight!

"Also, regrettably, Stoneheart has passed away. He lived a good, long life, and he is watching us from StarClan now." Goldenstar added, a bit of sadness in his eyes.

A joined sound of mourning came from the clan cats. Obviously this Stoneheart was well known and liked among the clans. Then Swiftstar was next.

"ShadowClan is doing just as lovely as ever," Swiftstar meowed, "Our medicine cat, Berryfur, has taken on an apprentice."

All the cats followed the ShadowClan leader's gaze to catch a glimpse of Berryfur's apprentice. Lightpaw and her friends, of course, could not see whoever it was because they were so far away. It was a bit irritating, until Lightpaw remembered how trivial it was.

Swiftstar went on to say a few other things, but Lightpaw wasn't paying attention to him at that point. The ADD part of her brain was growing restless.

Lightpaw was staring out into space, her mind completely blank, when she felt a paw prod her flank.

"You still there, Lightpaw?" She heard Snowpaw ask.

The tabby snapped out of it and looked at the other apprentice. "Oh, sorry I was spacing out."

Snowpaw tilted her head, "Your using the funny words again…" she said quietly.

If she had still had a hand, Lightpaw would have face palmed. "I keep forgetting!" she grumbled.

Then Blackpaw ran up to them, "Did you see? Did you see?" he squeaked, bouncing up and down.

The others looked at him curiosly, "Were we supposed to see something?" Icepaw asked, blinking slowly.

"It was a Gathering! I was at a Gathering! And I met apprentices from other clans and we talked about-"

Icepaw sighed, "We were here, too. Gatherings are nice, but it isn't a big deal." he said, "And I thought you hated the other clans."

Blackpaw glared at him, then turned to Lightpaw, "So did you have a good time? I had a good time! I wish you and Nightpaw had come with me!"

It was amazing how fast the little mite could talk. Even as they joined the rest of the clan to go home, Blackpaw wouldn't shut up about all the things he did and the cats he'd met.

When they got back to camp, most of the cats that had stayed behind were asleep. The apprentices went straight to sleep, but Blackpaw still tried to whisper something to her before Lightpaw snapped.

"Shut up! I'm tired Blackpaw! You can tell me in the morning!"

She shifted in her nest so she wouldn't have to look at Blackpaw's hurt expression. He really got on her nerves sometimes. Sighing, she enjoyed the silence and closed her eyes. In the morning she might feel better, after drinking her imaginary coffee of course.

* * *

><p>I enjoy sarcasm. Foxstar is actually based on an OC I made a long time ago, so I'm thinking about writing a story for her too someday. Probably when I'm finished with this one. It's taking me long enough to do one, so I don't need to add anything else to my list of things that don't really need to be done, but I feel like I have to do.<p>

Anyways, hope you enjoyed! Next chapter will be done when it gets done.


	5. Chapter 5

"Come on Lightpaw like you mean it!"

Lightpaw bared her teeth and ran at her mentor. Moonclaw had been pushing her more than usual in battle training. Was ThunderClan preparing for an attack? The leaders at the Gathering a few days before hadn't given any hints of aggression. Well, no more than usual.

Moonclaw side-stepped Lightpaw at the last minute and swiped her paw into Lightpaw's legs, knocking them out from under her. The apprentice lay on the ground, spitting to get the dirt out of her mouth. Then she saw her mentor standing over her.

"If I had been an enemy I could have easily killed you." she said, looking down at her with disapproval.

The tabby sat up and growled, "I'm only an apprentice! You're supposed to go easy on me!"

Raising an eyebrow, Moonclaw sat down, "There's nothing in the Warrior Code that says I have to go easy on you. Now try again, using the moves I taught you."

They had been training for at least an hour already, and Lightpaw, who was not as fit as her clanmates, was getting tired and feeling warm sweat beneath her pelt. She resented Moonclaw sometimes, but wanted to impress her. So she stood up on her sore legs and took a deep breath. Then she feinted to the left, then in the split second Moonclaw took to dodge the fake attack, she swatted the side of her mentor's head with her other paw.

Apparently she had managed to hit Moonclaw hard enough to knock the pale warrior off balance. Though her mentor was quick on her feet, her lithe frame was vulnerable to hits on the rare occasion that someone could touch her. The pale warrior staggered for a moment, then Lightpaw tackled her, pinning her to the ground. Moonclaw battered her belly with her sheathed hind paws, pushing Lightpaw off and cuffing the side of her head with a dizzying force that knocked Lightpaw right over onto her side.

Panting, she sat up and looked back at her mentor. Moonclaw was walking calmly over to her,

"That was much better, but still not enough…" the she-cat trailed off with a worried look.

Lightpaw hissed and got to her paws, fur fluffing out in anger, "Enough for what? Am I going to be fighting off all of ShadowClan anytime soon?"

Her mentor shook her head, then sighed, "You must be tired. Let's go back to camp."

The two walked silently back towards ThunderClan's camp. It was normal for Lightpaw and Moonclaw to have small spats here and there, but now the tension was so thick Lightpaw wanted to put maple flavoring in it and put it on her pancakes. If only she had some pancakes… no, let's not get off track here. Dark clouds had been accumulating since training had begun that morning, it was obviously going to rain soon. Only now did Lightpaw notice that the sun's warmth had been choked away hours before.

As they walked into camp Lightpaw walked towards the apprentice's den. Nightpaw and Icepaw were by the fresh-kill pile, getting something to eat, but Blackpaw and Snowpaw were sitting outside when Lightpaw approached.

"What's wrong Lightpaw?" Blackpaw mewed, staring up at her with sapphire eyes filled with worry.

Snowpaw tilted her head, "Did you and Moonclaw had a fight?"

"Yeah, in answer to both your questions. I'm taking a nap." Lightpaw walked passed them into the den to lie down.

Neither of the other apprentices stopped her, but she felt their concerned gazes follow her until the shadows inside their dwelling swallowed her up.

"Hey! Lightpaw wake up!"

Groaning, Lightpaw turned over in her nest, facing away from the voice that only annoyed her when it was used to wrench Lightpaw from her precious sleep.

"Come on! It's almost sunset!"

Still Lightpaw didn't move. The patter of rain was the only sound for several moments, and it almost lulled her back to sleep when something heavy landed on Lightpaw's side.

"Gah! Snowpaw get off!" the tabby hissed, squirming beneath her friend's surprisingly hefty weight.

"Only if you promise to go a few hours without another nap!"

Before Lightpaw could reply, Blackpaw poked his head in the den. "Come on Snowpaw, if she wants to sleep let her sleep."

The pressure was lifted. There wasn't much chance she would be able to return to her nap, so Lightpaw sat up, glaring at Snowpaw, but the white she-cat didn't seem fazed. She was looking at the younger tom now, "If it was Icepaw I was waking up you wouldn't mind." she meowed, giving Blackpaw an amused, knowing look, "But then you act a bit different when Lightpaw's around."

Blackpaw snorted, "No I don't!" then he quickly turned around and ran back out of the den.

Twitching her whiskers, Snowpaw looked back at Lightpaw, who wasn't entirely sure that she understood what had just happened.

"Are you hungry?" Snowpaw asked, "I know I am! Me and Blackpaw just got back from a patrol and when I came in to check on you, you were still asleep! I swear you put a hibernating badger to shame!"

Lightpaw blinked, "Do badgers hibernate?"

Snowpaw shrugged, "I dunno, but it sounded good. Now let's get some fresh-kill!"

The rain had made the camp into a muddy, watery, wet, cold, muddy, wet, watery mess. But at least the shower had stopped while Snowpaw was convincing Lightpaw to come out. Still, there was no one in camp crazy enough to be out of their den. Lightpaw fell behind trying to pick the cleanest route to the fresh-kill pile. By the time she got there Snowpaw was already picking up a vole in her jaws. "You act like a kittypet the way you avoid mud!" she teased, trotting back to the apprentice's den.

Lightpaw snorted and picked a sparrow, then followed Snowpaw at somewhat quicker pace.

As they finished their food, Icepaw ran into camp, covered in bloody scratched and bite marks. He sprinted, panting, and slipped in the mud and fell into a bloody, muck covered heap on the ground.

Lightpaw and Snowpaw ran over, eyes wide. "Icepaw! What happened?" Snowpaw meowed frantically.

Now many of the other cats were coming out to see what was happening, staring and murmuring.

"Make way, make way!"

The apprentices looked over to see Mistfeather pushing through the crowd. She nudged Icepaw with her nose. "Come to my den so I can treat you." she ordered.

But Icepaw looked up at her, "I have to tell Darkstar- it was- we're being invaded!"

Everyone started gasping and meowing nervously. Many warriors growled and fluffed out their fur. Then Darkstar waded through the clan towards Icepaw, "Who's attacking us?" he demanded.

"We don't know! It's not any of the clans…"

The leader's green eyes narrowed, "How many?"

"I couldn't tell, there were so many." Icepaw got onto his feet, "Shadowfur sent me to get help!"

Darkstar looked over at Moonclaw, who had become his new deputy after Redfoot retired the morning after the Gathering. "You stay behind, Moonclaw, and make sure our camp is secure." The she-cat nodded and started ordering cats to guard the entrances. Then Darkstar swept his gaze over the clan, "Foxleg, Sandflower, Sparrowtail, Lionclaw, Snowpaw, and Lightpaw come with me."

Lightpaw felt her heart pound. She was going into battle? Was she ready? The looked over and saw Moonclaw staring at her with her jaws agape. The deputy frantically looked to Mistfeather, who wasn't paying attention as she led Icepaw back to the medicine den. Lightpaw flattened her ears as Moonclaw looked back at her with the most terrified expression Lightpaw had ever seen.

The cats Darkstar had called were gathering at the camp's entrance. Lightpaw reluctantly joined them, thinking about the way Moonclaw had looked at her. She wouldn't be surprised if her mentor was a bit worried about her first battle, but Moonclaw looked as if there was an army of hungry foxes behind her. Something about the situation was definitely odd. Lightpaw thought about asking Darkstar if she could stay behind, but then she felt something touch her flank. She looked over to see Blackpaw standing beside her.

"My sister is with that patrol." he said, looking like it was hard just to maintain his composure. "Please make sure she doesn't get hurt."

She nodded. "I'll do my best." she promised, giving him a weak smile. Any thought of backing out was gone now, she had to bring Nightpaw back to her brother unscathed.

One signal from Darkstar and the reinforcements were racing through the forest, following Icepaw's fear scent back to where he had left his patrol. Snowpaw ran beside her, obviously thinking about her own brother's injuries. "He'll be fine." Lightpaw said reassuringly, but Snowpaw didn't reply.

It wasn't long before the screeches of battle reached their ears. When they got to the patrol, there were many bodies littering the ground. It was hard to tell which side they belonged to, or if any of them were still alive or just wounded. One thing that was for sure though, was that the enemy was winning and not about to back down.

Darkstar's patrol leaped into the fray without hesitation. Lightpaw looked around for Nightpaw's spotted fur, but her search was interrupted by a heavy cuff to the side of her head that sent to flying into a holly bush. Then she got a good look at her attacker. Another huge tom, like the one that had nearly killed her. Why did she get the huge thugs? Lightpaw rolled out of the way of his gigantic paw just in time. The apprentice quickly noted that his brute strength was balanced by his slow movements.

She dashed to his side and sliced his flank with her claws. He screeched and swung at her again, but she jumped out of the way. Then he cuffed her again, sending her to the ground. She flinched, waiting for the killing blow, but it never came. Lionclaw tackled the tom and slashed at him face, but the bigger tom kicked him off with his hind legs. The golden tom tried to get up, but the tom held him down with one of his paws. Lightpaw stared in horror as Lionclaw struggled to get away, but the huge tom casually unsheathed his claws for the kill.

Lightpaw had to help, but she couldn't move. How could she help him? She was so small and inexperienced… Time seemed to slow down and the battles cries and screams of anger and pain died down as she felt a pelt brush against hers. She looked over, expecting to see Snowpaw or one of the warriors, but she saw what seemed like an older version of herself. Then she recognized the cat as Whispertail, the cat forced to walk the skies between StarClan and the Dark Forest.

"You can do it." She murmured encouragingly, sounding calm and reassuring. Unlike last time Lightpaw had seen her.

That tone made her voice so much like…

"Mom?"

But she faded almost as soon as she had appeared.

Looking back at the tom, she ran at him and leaped onto his back, shredding his pelt with her front claws. He roared and tried to shake her off, but she sunk her claws into his back and held on. Now Lionclaw lurched forward and slashed at the tom's throat. Blood seemed to pour from the wound as the tom screamed in agony. He finally managed to fling Lightpaw off of him, but it didn't matter. He would die within minutes.

Then she remembered Nightpaw and looked around. She felt like a monkey jumping around to keep out of everyone's way, but she managed to focus enough to pick out the spotted apprentice.

Lightpaw ran past the fighting cats to get to Blackpaw's sister. She was slumped against a tree, wheezing, as the tabby raced over to her.

"Nightpaw! Are you okay?"

When she got closer she saw Nightpaw's face. One of her eyes had been torn out, and blood was pouring from her socket.

"Nightpaw…"

It was then that Lightpaw noticed the long, bloody gash on her cheek that stretched along the side of her neck, and finally ended just past her shoulder blade. Crimson blood flowed like a river, staining the lighter parts of Nightpaw's fur.

_She won't make it_

_No! I promised Blackpaw!_

"Come on Nightpaw I'll help you get back to camp!"

The apprentice shivered violently, sinking to the ground. "No Lightpaw."

Lightpaw nudged the younger cat, "Come on, your brother's waiting for you at camp!"

Nightpaw looked at her with fear and sadness in her one eye. "I'm not gonna make it."

"But-"

"It was her." Nightpaw interrupted her, "The one from the stories we heard from the elders. She wasn't killed-"

"What are you talking about?"

"She…" Nightpaw never finished, her eye closed, and her head slumped down to the forest floor that had been soaked with her blood. Lightpaw froze, her insides tightening.

_I failed_

Lightpaw didn't move. She didn't notice when the shrieks had died down. She didn't even remember that there had been a fight going on. Her mind was blank and cold until she heard Snowpaw shout her name.

"Lightpaw! Hey Lightpaw we-"

The other apprentice went silent.

"Is that… oh StarClan."

As Snowpaw padded over to Nightpaw's body, Lightpaw finally turned her head away to look at the sky. They clouds had finally left, and the sky was a beautiful array of purple, pink, and orange. Ironic, really.

Lightpaw felt completely numb as they trudged back to camp. Nearly every warrior was helping carry a body back to camp. Icepaw's mentor, Shadowfur, had also been killed, and a warrior named Rosefang had been wounded to the point where she wasn't able to walk. Lightpaw and Snowpaw ended up carrying Nightpaw.

The clan rushed to meet them as they entered camp. Lightpaw felt her heart break as she spotted Blackpaw running over to meet them as well. His face went from anxious, to curious, to horrified in a matter of seconds.

He said nothing as the older apprentices set Nightpaw's body down on the ground with Shadowfur and another warrior.

No one had to ask questions. No one had to say anything. The wounded were all brought to Mistfeather to be treated, and everyone else was gathered at the center of camp to mourn the dead.

The only sound was Nightpaw's mother wailing beside her daughter. Blackpaw sat beside her, ears flattened and a sort of dead look in his eyes.

Lightpaw couldn't bear to look at Nightpaw's face again. She sat at the camp's entrance and prayed to StarClan that Blackpaw and Nightpaw would forgive her.


	6. Chapter 6

How long has it been? A week and a half? Two weeks? I feel so bad about making both of my readers wait so long... (Kidding. I probably have at least five, right?) Anyways, the delay was due to a mixture of laziness and family issues. Mostly the former. Anyways I wish I could have made it a bit longer, but here it is.

* * *

><p>The next day ThunderClan fell back into its normal routine, though things didn't feel normal at all. There were no smiles. No play fights among the younger cats. No pranks. Darkstar had assigned Icepaw a new mentor that morning, Sandflower. The apprentices liked her better than his former mentor at least. (Not that they were happy about Shadowfur's death) The tan, green-eyed she-cat was kind and playful, but serious when she needed to be. They had heard through the grapevine that she wasn't clanborn as well, and her distinct accent was a bit of a giveaway.<p>

Lightpaw padded behind her as she tried to make conversation. None of the cats on their patrol wanted to talk, though.

"In my culture, when a cat dies they go to Oasis with The Mother. We thank The Mother for the life they led, and celebrate the fact that their soul will be joining her." Sandflower explained, "Nightpaw is with her ancestors now, we should be happy for-"

Blackpaw whipped his head around to look at her, "Nightpaw was murdered! There's nothing happy about that!" he hissed, "Nightpaw… my sister… did you see what they did to her? The kits in the nursery will have nightmares for moons!"

Sandflower fell silent, her eyes dropping to the ground in despair. Lightpaw sighed, feeling a stab of pity for the young she-cat. She was only trying to help, but it was a bit too soon. Her heart went out to Blackpaw, because she knew what true loss felt like. It was something she wouldn't wish on anyone.

The patrol was silent until they returned to camp. There was still blood staining the center of camp from those bodies, sending a shiver down Lightpaw's back. She padded towards the medicine den to see Mistfeather. Perhaps she needed help with something.

As Lightpaw entered the herb-scented den, she noticed the more heavily injured cats had apparently stayed overnight. Lionclaw, Foxleg, Rosefang, and Icepaw were lying in the nests. Snowpaw was sitting next to her brother. No doubt she would be driving Mistfeather insane going in and out of the medicine den all day until Icepaw was fit enough to return to his apprentice duties.

Mistfeather was going through her herbs when her ears pricked. She turned her head to look at the new visitor, "Oh, Lightpaw. Do you need anything? Are you injured?"

"Not too bad." Lightpaw meowed, "Do you need help with anything?"

Tail twitching, Mistfeather turned back to her herbs, "Not really. I've got all I need here. Unless you wanted to talk about something…"

Lightpaw knew what she meant. All the strange StarClan stuff that had been going on.

"When you get the chance, that would be nice." Lightpaw said, "I'm going to get something to eat. Do you-"

"We've eaten already, but thanks Lightpaw. Now get out and let me tend to my patients."

Sighing, Lightpaw backed out of the den. She spotted Moonclaw across the clearing and bounded over to her. The she-cat looked over at her and stopped to wait for her.

"We can't train right now I've got-"

Lightpaw cut her off, "I'm not here about that."

"Then what is it?" Moonclaw asked.

Lightpaw hesitated, then took a deep breath, "Do you know what happened yesterday?"

Moonclaw tilted her head, "I'm afraid I don't understand the question."

"I mean do you know who those cats were? The attackers?"

Eyes narrowing, Moonclaw's ears twitched, "No."

Lightpaw narrowed her eyes back, "No? You look like you know something."

The deputy looked away, "I don't have to talk about this to an apprentice."

As Moonclaw walked away, Lightpaw felt the anger build up inside of her. It wasn't fair! She could help if they'd let her! The young tabby raced out of camp, not wanting the warriors guarding the tunnel to stop her. Darkstar had told them not to let anyone out of camp by themselves, especially apprentices. But she was already gone before they could catch her.

Once she was far enough from camp to be comfortable, she slowed to a stop. She could see the pebbly shore of the lake just ahead. Normally she hated water, but she padded down to the water and let the weak tide tug at her paws.

"You guys are just playing with me aren't you?" Lightpaw grumbled, looking up at the sky. Who ever said StarClan lacked a sense of humor?

Then she felt something touch her flank, she jumped back and saw the striped cat from the day before. The beautiful, older version of herself twitched her whiskers in amusement.

"You're as jumpy as always." She purred.

"You don't know me." Lightpaw stuttered, "I'm not even from this place. StarClan aren't my ancestors."

Sighing, the she-cat sat down, "That's where you're wrong I'm afraid. You know who I am, right?"

Lightpaw thought for a moment, "Whispertail?"

Whispertail nodded, "I'm kind of breaking the rules here, I'm not supposed to talk to you, but…" her eyes filled with sadness, "I missed you so much."

Lightpaw took a step back, "Listen lady..."

"It's okay if you don't recognize me. I'm your mother." She heard Whispertail say.

Her full attention returned to the older she-cat. "Why didn't you tell me?" All the memories of her human life flashed in her head, her mother was in nearly every one of them. She knew the whole time. She had been keeping her past, no, their past, away from her that whole time. It hurt that the one she trusted the most had kept such a thing from her.

"Because I didn't want you to worry about it. And…" Whispertail sighed, "I didn't want to lose you."

"So you've been lying to me my whole life?"

The striped warrior hesitated, but nodded, "Yes."

It was so much to take in. She felt betrayed by her mother. She thought they told each other everything, but her own mother took her away from her home. Mistfeather and Moonclaw were her aunts. ThunderClan was her family. Lightpaw turned around, "Go back to wherever you came from. I don't want to see you."

Whispertail followed her back into the woods, "I still have much to tell you!" she said urgently.

"I don't care to hear anything you have to say." Lightpaw growled.

But her mother still walked after her through the woods, "I'm sorry I did that to you! I'm sorry I left you! I'm sorry I took you away from our clan!"

Hissing, Lightpaw whirled around, "If you were sorry, you wouldn't have done it in the first place!"

Though the hurt in her expression was evident, Whispertail didn't give up. "I've been watching your progress. Your father and I are proud of you."

_Father_

The word bounced around in her head for several moments. She had never thought about having a father. She knew she had one, of course, but he had never been around for some reason. Now she knew why.

Lightpaw turned around to face her mother, "Where is he?"

"He's dead. He died not long after you were born."

It was silent for several seconds. Whispertail padded over and gave Lightpaw a lick on the cheek, "I'm sorry. I did a lot of things that I've come to regret. When this is over you may not want to have anything to do with me."

"Did he die in one of the battles against Furystar?"

Whispertail suddenly went stiff.

"What makes you think that?"

That was answer enough for Lightpaw. Her heart filled with grief for the father she never knew. Then she took a deep breath and answered. "I was gravely injured. So bad that a part of me was in StarClan for a while, and someone up there showed me some stuff about what happened back then."

The queen thought for a moment, then her ears pricked as if listening to something only she could hear. She quickly nuzzled Lightpaw one last time, then her amber eyes met Lightpaw's jade green gaze.

"I have to go. Be good, do your best, just say no, and don't run with scissors." She mewed, succeeding in making Lightpaw let out a small hint of a feline laugh.

"I will, mom." Lightpaw promised, feeling a torturous mixture of sorrow and relief as her mother left her in the living world alone once again. She felt like she had learned something that day, but there was a small voice in the back of her mind that said there was more craziness to come.

Lightpaw was silent as she ate her finch. The other apprentices gave up on trying to talk to her. Even Snowpaw, as persistent as she was. The young tabby simply didn't feel like making conversation… not with the living anyway. A thought of switching over to medicine cat training crossed her mind, but she didn't think she wanted to have other cat's lives in her paws like that. Sighing, she wondered if she could contact her mother via the Moonpool if she had become Mistfeather's apprentice.

Then she wondered if she should tell the pale medicine cat about her second encounter with the undead. It would feel good to talk about it, and Mistfeather would understand best, being the clan's main link to their ancestors.

Finishing her dinner, Lightpaw made her way to the medicine den. The scent of herbs caressed the roof of her mouth, along with a faint trace of Mistfeather's own scent. Lightpaw called for her aunt, pricking her ears to listen for any movement.

"Lightpaw?"

She jumped with surprise, fluffing out her fur as she turned around.

Mistfeather was standing behind her with a bundle of herbs in her jaws.

"You don't have to be so jumpy. It's not like ShadowClan is invading." Her meow was muffled by the bundle, but still clear enough to make out.

Lightpaw snorted, "I'm not jumpy!"

"Uh huh." Mistfeather walked past her to put the herbs away and looked back at Lightpaw, "What is it this time?"

"You said we could talk when you had time. And something happened recently that I wanted to talk about." The apprentice said, her eyes wandering to the floor as she thought of how best to describe what had taken place.

The medicine cat blinked. "Well go on. I'm listening." She meowed.

Taking a deep breath, Lightpaw explained everything that had happened with Whispertail. Including the bits about her true heritage.

After Lightpaw had said everything there was to be said, Mistfeather fell silent for a long time, making the apprentice feel extremely nervous and awkward.

"You're saying Whispertail is your mother?"

Lightpaw nodded.

"And I heard you correctly when you said your father was dead?"

Again, Lightpaw nodded. "But why does that matter?"

Mistfeather shrugged, "It may not matter much, but she never told us who the father of her kits was."

So nobody knew who the father of Whispertail's kits was… Wait. Kits? Plural?

"She had more than one?" Lightpaw asked, eyes widening. Not only did she have a father, but she had siblings too? Maybe Icepaw and Snowpaw were her brother and sister! They were the same age as her, and had never told her about their parents, so they could be!

The excited thoughts died when Mistfeather answered.

"Her other three kits died of greencough. You were the only survivor."

Was the world just bound and determined to make sure that she had no family?

Lightpaw shook her head, "No. You're joking. Now for real-"

But the look in Mistfeather's eyes told her that it was no joke. The pain she felt for her lost kin was dull. She couldn't remember them no matter how hard she tried. If she tried she could pretend that they never existed in the first place.

"This probably goes without saying, but you may not want to go telling the whole clan about this. At least until we can piece together all the details." Mistfeather sighed, "Yet another thing to add to my list of responsibilities."

Ears flattening, Lightpaw lowered her gaze. "I'm sorry."

Mistfeather cuffed her niece playfully on the head, "It's fine. It might bring us some closure to find out what really happened to Whispertail."

Then Lightpaw remembered her "chat" with the clan deputy earlier that day.

"Have you been telling Moonclaw about this stuff?" Lightpaw asked, "I mean, I don't mind if you are, but I'm just curious."

The pale she-cat nodded, "Whispertail is Moonclaw's sister too. I figured she had the right to know." Then her eyes narrowed, "But she is the only other one in camp that needs to know about this right now. Do you understand? No gossiping to the other apprentices about this."

"Do I seem like the type to gossip?" Lightpaw asked, feeling a bit insulted.

"All apprentices gossip. Trust me. I was one once." Mistfeather said, "It's just that some do it more than others. Now go get some rest, it's getting a bit late."

Lightpaw walked out of the medicine den, looking at the darkening sky with longing. Never, not once, had she ever considered wanting to die. The thought of her own death still didn't seem very attractive, but she wanted to meet her family. It was like her father and siblings were a foggy dream that had been forgotten upon waking. They wouldn't seem real to her until she saw them with her own eyes. A small part of her even questioned if she would ever see them.

_Maybe someday. But I still have things to do._


End file.
